CAG report flags ?41 crore wasted on incomplete infra projects in state

Ranchi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India presented the compliance report for the financial year 2022-23 in the Jharkhand Assembly on Monday, highlighting serious lapses in multiple government projects where ?41.10 crore was spent without benefiting the public.

According to the report, the audit of the Road Construction Department revealed that ?19.15 crore spent on land acquisition for road widening brought no benefit due to a lack of coordination between the executive engineer and land acquisition officials.

Similarly, two bridges built over the Damodar and Gawai rivers at a cost of ?15.09 crore remain inaccessible as no approach roads were constructed due to pending land acquisition, rendering the expenditure ineffective.

The audit of the Rural Development Department found that a building constructed in Chandan Kiari block of Bokaro district, intended for a shopping mall, has never been used, wasting ?5.09 crore. Another ?1.77 crore spent on a web-based accounts management system has also gone unused.

In the Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperative Department, ?3.67 crore spent between January and June 2014 on 16 cold storage and sorting facilities has yielded no results as the facilities remain non-operational.

The audit also flagged that ?1.55 crore was spent by the Tribal Welfare Department to build a 50-bed rural hospital in Dhalbhumgarh block of Jamshedpur district, which remains unopened three years after completion.